he really was quite a president. that's the show. thanks for watching. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. good evening, american, and welcome to "the ed show" from new york. republicans have laid out their plans to steal the next election. tonight democrats roll out their plan to stop them. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> the good news is our principles are sound. >> reince priebus sees no problem with his party. >> win elections, we must compete in every state and every region. >> except they just can't win. but the gop has a quick fix, steal the vote. debbie wasserman schultz and nina turner tell us the democrats' plan to fight back. real filibuster reform is dead, and mitch mcconnell is gloating. we beat the liberals. senator bernie sanders is here to react.

conservatives said the market would die without mitt romney as president. >> the dow is sitting at this five-year high. it's actually been up for ten out of the last 11 sessions. >> we've got to stop being the stupid. >> bobby jindal. >> no, the republican party does not need to change its principles. >> with the same old lines. karen finney and eugene robinson take on the losing strategy. senator saxby chambliss of georgia is a lame duck. tonight we look at his flawed legacy. and more on the fallout from the pbs documentary "the untouchables." why isn't wall street on trial? mike papantonio, head of the national trial lawyers association is here to explain. good to have you with us folks, thanks for watching. the fight is on. the attempt to steal the next presidential election by stealing the electoral college are facing resistance, and the resistance is working. earlier today rnc chairman

reince priebus was rewarded for his failures of the 2012 election by being reelected as head of the republican party. good news. priebus told republicans to start looking at a broader electoral map. >> it's time to stop looking at elections through the lenses of battleground states. we have four years until the next presidential election. and being a blue state is not a permanent diagnosis. >> reince priebus is on record saying the votes to favor republicans is something fully controlled red states ought to be looking at. he is talking about states president obama won, which are controlled by republican legislatures. former rnc chair haley barbour tried to downplay the scheme to rig the electoral college, but he admitted it could affect the outcome of a race. >> you know, i am a traditionalist myself. i really am a conservative. i'm a little bit skeptical of this.

but i also am a little bit skeptical that you can predict with any sort of precision who it will really help from one presidential election to another. >> so it's okay if the loser of a presidential race actually wins because both parties will eventually get screwed? very patriotic. or should i say pathetic. democrats are not going to let this ball get rolling. the democratic national committee said just as the american people fought the republican party's attempts in 2012, we will oppose any future attempts to ignore the wishes of the electorate and make changes to the electoral college for partisan purposes. msnbc's zachary roth reported the virginia bill to change the electoral college in that state could violate a key provision of the voting rights act. very interesting. any challenge to the voting rights act would get the justice department and attorney general eric holder involved. the push back against the proposed virginia law was swift

and it was loud, and it made a difference. one republican senator already said that she will not support the bill. today another republican joined her, calling it a bad idea. and in a senate with a 20-20 split, these two votes make a big difference. virginia governor bob mcdonnell, he saw the writing on the wall. he rejected the bill through a spokesperson. the governor does not support this legislation. he believes virginia's existing system works just fine as it is. he does not believe there is any need for a change. so the reaction scared off republican lawmakers down in the state of florida, who were trying to pass a similar law. the gop, speaker of that house in florida said today i don't think we need to change the rules of the game. i think we need to get better. amen to that if you're a republican. but this is all good news if you're a lefty. but it's no time for democrats to ease up at all. republicans are not going to surrender easily. molly ball from "the atlantic" reported on a new republican push to take the vote rigging national.

gop strategists have been talking to major donors and plan to send a fundraising e-mail to grassroots conservatives early next week. "the money would go toward promoting similar plans to apportion electoral votes by congressional districts in states across the country, potentially even hiring lobbyists in state capitols." they don't rest, do they? the people behind this plan, as you can imagine, are from a d.c. elections strategy firm. well, including former secretary of state ken blackwell of ohio, the same ken blackwell who manipulated voting locations of machines in 2004 to create long lines in democratic areas. ohio delivered the presidency for george w. bush. how we remember. this might be why reince priebus, reelected as the rnc chair, is so optimistic about the electoral future for the republicans. >> no state is that reliably a

blue state. but it's up to all of us to decide if we're willing to fight for these states. it takes work. it's not going to happen overnight. but from what i've seen in wisconsin, we can make it happen. in two years, we all want to hear the words and the headlines republicans everywhere. >> well, this is the electoral map from the 2012 election. president obama won by four points in a large margin in the electoral college. this is what happens under the republicans' everywhere strategy. president obama still wins by four points, but loses the presidency in an electoral landslide. as long as this plan is out there, republicans will continue to downplay it. >> i would not be for it. i don't think there is any sort of national movement. and you have sort of convinced me that in virginia, there may not even be any state movement.

it may be an isolated legislator. >> sure. it was just an isolated legislator. yesterday it was this isolated legislator, senator bill carrico from virginia. today it was this isolated legislator, and that would be representative peter lund of michigan. now michigan is in the picture. lund is set to introduce a similar rigging bill in michigan's legislature. michigan speaker jase bolger said today he is open to pursuing the strategy in his state. the fight to protect our democratic process, my friends, is far from over. and i know it's only january of 2013, and we're a long way from the midterms and a long way from 2016, but this is the modern-day politics that the republicans have decided to play. you take your eye off the ball we lose. we can't turn it over. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question, will the democrats stop the republicans

from cheating in elections? text a for yes. text b for no. to 622639. you can always go to our blog at ed.msnbc.com. we encourage you to do that. we have the results of the poll coming later on in the show. joining me tonight congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz, chairman of the dnc. debbie, great to have you with us tonight. >> thanks, ed. >> they keep coming at you, don't they? they just don't stop. do you have a strategy or do you have to develop a strategy to counterpunch this republican plan from a national down to a local level? >> well, absolutely we're going to have a strategy. and our strategy is going to be inclusive of the grassroots opposition that we use successfully to oppose photo suppression laws across the country. and we're going to use every tool at our disposal to do that. but, you know, i'm heartened at least by the fact that someone like the speaker of the florida house of representatives, will

weatherford, who i know and know to be really very often a reasonable person, i think he had it exactly right when he said that this type of proposal to essentially rig the outcome of an election by switching to congressional district-based electoral college votes is like saying well, we won 3/4 of a football game, but we didn't win the last one. so from now on we should only have three quarters in a football game. basically what he said what the republicans need to do is be right on the issues and win over the hearts and minds. >> sure. >> but that's not their mo. >> in the state of michigan, this is a quote from a michigan republican lawmaker who was proposing to change the state's electoral rules. he said it got no traction last year. there were people convinced romney was going to win, and this might take votes from him. in other words, this is an admission of pure political motivations. they only want to change it when it's going to help republicans.

but they would have done this last year had they had thought that romney was in trouble. but people up there thought he was going to win. they're dirty pool players. >> in 2004, in 2004, the republicans killed the very same proposal in colorado because it -- they thought it was going to hurt them, because back then colorado was more red. and this was when john kerry was on the ballot. so, look, at the end of the day, messing with the way the founding fathers structured the electoral college system could come back to bite you easily. so today in one particular state, i agree with reince priebus in this sense that today we've got a lot of blue states that we're winning, and some of those states were red states previously, and they may go back. and demographics in politics shift. we need to stick with the founding fathers' original concept because that's what is fair. >> is there any state where you're worried this is going to catch on and there is going to

be a shift? >> i think it's a bit early to tell, but i can assure you that we are certainly not going to let it go too far down the road without fighting back. >> all right. congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz, thanks for your time tonight on this. now let's go to nina turner. nina, you and i were talking about this in d.c. earlier this week. could this happen in your state? are the wheels in motion in ohio? >> not as of yet, ed. we know that husted mentioned it in a speech. but democrats are standing strong and so are advocates. we must continue to be vigilant against the practices of the republican party. what they are trying to do is unfair, unamerican, and undemocratic. and we cannot relent on insuring that nothing like this happens, not only in ohio, but nowhere else in the country. it is not by happenstance that they are targeting the very battleground states that they lost. and had the previous plan been in place in 2012, governor

romney would have received 12 of our electoral college votes, even though the president won ohio by over 166,000 votes. so we're going to keep fighting, ed. they're trying to steal the one woman, one man, one vote democratic idea in this democracy. but we're not going to relent. >> i really think this is all about concentrating and protecting the wealthy. your thoughts on that. >> not just that, but to try to disenfranchise folks this way. you know, it doesn't matter what they say. you know, governor jindal told them to stop being the stupid party. well, stupid is as stupid does as forrest gump has said. and nothing about what they're doing has changed. they're just trying to repackage the same mess. and that is why democrats and progressives and fair-minded republicans, people in red and blue and purple states must continue to stand and to stand strong. ed, the greatest equalizer that we have in this country is the

access to the ballot. and your socio-economic status, gender, ethnicity should not matter. and the fact that the republicans have their friendships all over, gerrymandering, and they don't care, and now they're trying to steal the votes and rig the next presidential election. but i am confident that we the people of ohio and we the people of the united states of america are not going to stand for it. >> i got to ask you. what do you think of ken blackwell's involvement, his involvement in this national push? he's got quite a history in ohio. and now he is involved nationally in this electoral push. your thoughts on that. >> the more things change, the more they stay the same, ed. they certainly knew how to go and get the captain of deception to help them with their dirty deeds. but we're going to stay vigilant on that. ken blackwell is not going to stop fairness in this country. >> do these efforts violate the voting rights act the way you interpret it? >> i believe they do. and if they do make that move we

will have to take it to court. and i am hopeful that the courts will rule in favor of the people. it is patently unfair for them to even try to do what they're doing. but, ed, they're not ashamed. we're going to stay vigilant. evil never sleeps, so good can never take a vacation. >> all right. ohio state senator nina turner here with us tonight on "the ed show." thank you so much for joining us. remember to answer tonight's question there at the bottom of the screen. share your thoughts with us on edshow and facebook. we always want to know what you think. well, today senator mitch mcconnell tells us what he really thinks of the deal on the filibuster reform last night. senator bernie sanders responds. stay with us. you're watching "the ed show" on msnbc.

coming up, the republican doom and gloom vision of the obama economy just doesn't seem to match reality these days. i'll have the details coming up. and while whistle-blowers come forward to describe the fraud that led to the financial collapse, the department of justice isn't going after wall street's ceos. i'll ask mike papantonio why

they're just being let off the hook. you can listen to my radio show on sirius xm radio noon to 3:00 a.m. share your thoughts with us on #edshow. we're copping right back. hey, buddy? oh, hey, flo. you want to see something cool? snapshot, from progressive. my insurance company told me not to talk to people like you. you always do what they tell you? no... try it, and see what your good driving can save you. you don't even have to switch.

unless you're scared. i'm not scared, it's... you know we can still see you. no, you can't. pretty sure we can... try snapshot today -- no pressure. welcome back to "the ed show". thanks for stay with us tonight. liberals are furious about filibuster reform. here is some reaction from my radio show. >> what harry reid has done is just outrageous. what else needs to be done? >> i am so angry. i feel like the president has been torpedoed, stabbed in the back, bamboozled, hoodwinked by the head of his own party.

>> i expected nothing less from harry reid than this. i mean, we've watched him over and over and over cave like this. >> they are not happy. senate majority leader harry reid agreed to a watered down deal with senator mitch mcconnell, the minority leader. reid and mcconnell also made a gentlemen's agreement to reduce the frequency of filibusters. last night i expressed my dismay at the idea senator mcconnell would change his ways. >> you mean to tell me that we're going to get a new mitch mcconnell and a whole new group of republicans that just can't wait to help barack obama move this country forward, especially on jobs? they have said no to everything. well, today we have evidence senator mcconnell, he didn't wait for the ink to dry on the deal before sending out a fundraising letter. his campaign manager writes, we

beat the liberals. can you imagine what the left might cook up unchecked power? we would be sure to see a litany of anti-coal regulations, tax hikes, anti-second amendment bills, forced unionization bills and crazy new deficit spending. it's the same old mitch mcconnell, same operation. and he will block president obama's agenda. it's basically selling out the efforts of the progressives in this country, in my opinion. let's turn to senator bernie sanders of vermont, who is the only member of the democratic caucus to vote against the so-called filibuster reform. senator, good to have you with us tonight. i'd like you to respond to that fundraising letter of mitch mcconnell. i mean, are things going to change? are we going to see the same old mitch? >> look, at the end of the day, what that legislation did is made it easier for some cabinet appointees to take their jobs. that's important. it's going to speed up the process in the senate. that's important. but at the end of the day, ed,

this country faces enormous economic crises. we've got to deal with global warming. we've got to deal with education. we have to deal with deficit reduction. we are not going to be able to do what the american people want if we have to get 60 votes. and as a result of that agreement, we're going to continue to have to get 60 votes. and that's why i voted against it. >> isn't mr. mcconnell showing it's going to be the same attitude? he beat the liberals. >> no, i think it will. look, here is what has happened. historically, there was a gentleman's agreement in the senate, and that is that you will not use the filibuster requiring 60 votes unless it was something really you felt very passionately about. when lyndon johnson was majority leader, he had to use cloture on one occasion. since obama has been president, reid has had to use it hundreds of times. in other words, the republicans

have changed the rules. any significant piece of legislation now requires 60 votes. you can't govern effectively under those conditions. what we should have said, if you want to oppose something, go to the floor. talk and talk and talk. but when you're finished, it's going to be 51 votes that makes the decision. >> senator, you heard some of the comments from my radio show. it was all over liberal talk radio today. it's all in the social media. i mean, how much more abuse must the democrats take in this process before they finally adopt meaningful filibuster reform? i mean, we've got, you know, this ruling by the court in washington on some of the appointments of president obama. you can be sure that mitch mcconnell is probably behind closed doors, smiling about that. he is not there to help the president. but the question is why don't the democrats realize what is happening here? they may realize it, but they're

afraid to move forward on it. and people are frustrated in this country. this is what they voted for. >> no, ed, you know, i agree with you. that's why i did not vote for that package. and i think what everybody has got to understand, and you've made this very clear, this is not some kind of inside the beltway abstraction about senate rules. this is really important stuff, because we have a nation that is demanding action to create millions of jobs to transform our energy system, to come up with a fair tax proposal so the wealthy and large corporations start paying their fair share. we are not going to be able to do those things and many other things, the things, in fact, that mitch mcconnell and his billionaire friends are worried about, we are not going to be able to do that if we need 60 votes. no, i think what ended up happening is we could only get

to the best of my knowledge 47, 48 votes. that was the reality. there were seven or so democrats who chose not to go along with what we call the talking filibuster, which would have meant 51 votes. and that's the story. >> it looks to me like we're reaching the point where the american public is growing more aware of filibuster reform that relates to substantive issues. and this is not a good deal. and it's going to be very interesting to see how this plays out. next week the president is going to be going to nevada to talk about immigration reform. i mean, do you think that we can get immigration reform in this country? i mean, are there going to be -- i don't think there is going to be 60 votes for the assault weapons ban. there is not going to be 60 votes for climate change. what about immigration reform? >> well, i think you're probably right. and what ends up happening is if you manage to cobble together some agreement, which does get you 60 votes, what you can be absolutely assured of is that that piece of legislation is going to be much, much more

conservative, much less effective than it otherwise would have been. could we get 51 votes to create millions of jobs and rebuild the infrastructure? yeah, i think we can. can we get 51 votes to ask the wealthy and large corporations to help us with deficit reduction rather than cut social security and medicare? i think we can. but can we get 60 votes for those proposals? no, we can't. >> senator bernie sanders, good to have you with us this evening. thank you so much. coming up, the republicans told us the stock market would just good wild under president romney if he had gotten elected. it's soaring okay right now, don't you think, under president obama? and later, bobby jindal leads the effort to rebrand the republican party. but there is one problem. they're selling the same old policies. karen finney and eugene robinson will join me. stay with us. we're right back. welcome back to "the ed

welcome back to "the ed show." today is january 25th. it's been three weeks since the congress and the president raised taxes to prevent the fiscal cliff. before the election they called it taxmageddon. many said all they needed was mitt romney to save them. even mitt romney was in awe of mitt romney's awesomeness. >> they'll probably be looking at what the polls are saying, but it looks like i'll be winning the markets and the markets will be happy. it looks if the president were to win the markets would not be so happy.

my own view is if we win on november 6th, there will be a great deal of optimism about the future of this country. we'll see capital come back, and we'll see -- without actually doing anything, we'll actually get a boost in the economy. >> i mean, there would be no way the economy could sustain a kenyan muslim socialist assault on all that is good and right and american. but our markets for another few days, much less four more years. again, today is january 25th. and the markets are supposed to be in the tank. so when i heard this, i could barely understand the words. >> this is some sustained growth in the stock market, that we're not just get a sugar high today? >> a lot of this is driven by earnings. and the numbers were good once again. it looks like we're going to open with the dow up another 40 points today. it's all adding up to the big, big numbers. you talked about how the dow is sitting at this high.

the s&p 500, it's been up for seven segments in a row, and that's the longest winning streak it's since seen october of 2006. >> did you hear that? do you belief that? i mean, how in the world could that be? the dow is up over 67% since president obama first took office, closing today just a few hundred points off its all-time high. the s&p closed above 1500 for the first time ever. now the markets are not the best measure of the economy, we know that. but the right wing has whined as loud as possible when the markets were lower, blaming it all on president obama's policies. you don't hear them anymore, because they are political hacks and liars. president obama worst socialist ever. let me tell you in advance, i plan to talk about the big picture tonight, and i plan to say some things that may

challenge your assumptions. >> governor bobby jindal promises a burn burner. >> no, the republican party does not need to change our principles. >> but must have forgotten the matches. karen finney and gene robinson on the gop's rebrand failure. republican senator saxby chambliss calls it quits. we'll give him a special goodbye. wall street got the bailout. homeowners and taxpayers got shafted. mike papantonio of the national trial lawyers association tells us how the department of justice has failed on assignment. t whenp in the middle of the night it can be frustrating. it's hard to turn off and go back to sleep. intermezzo is the first and only prescription sleep aid approved for use as needed in the middle of the night when you can't get back to sleep. it's an effective sleep medicine you don't take before bedtime. take it in bed only when you need it and have at least four hours left for sleep.

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we've got to stop being the stupid party. and i'm serious. it's time for a new republican party that talks like adults. it's time for us to articulate our plans and our visions for america in real terms. it's no secret we had a number

of republicans that damaged the brand this year with offensive and bizarre comments. i'm here to say we've had enough of that. >> welcome back to "the ed show." that was louisiana governor bobby jindal doing his best chris christie impersonation at the rnc winter convention just last night. jindal, who is widely expected to run for president in 2016 used his keynote speech to position himself as a tough-talking reformer dedicated to fixing the republican brand. but changing the sign on the door doesn't change what's behind it. >> i'm not one of those who believe we need to abandon, moderate, equivocate or otherwise change our principles. now, i know this observation badly disappoints many of our friends and liberals in the national media, of course. >> jindal is exactly wrong. republicans' resistance to progress is what allowed rnc chairman reince priebus to be reelected today. that's right, the man who presided over 2012's shellacking of the gop is back for another round. and priebus is pushing the same empty rebranding effort.

>> we can stand by our timeless principles and articulate them in ways that are modern, relevant to our time, and relatable to the majority of voters. and that i believe is how we will achieve republican renewal. and that's how we'll grow. that's how we'll win. >> all right. truth tellers, now. the policies embodied by the republican, like bobby jindal and all reince priebus are what damaged the brand in the first place. as long as they keep selling the same old policies and keep pushing the same priorities, they're just putting lipstick on a pig. i am joined tonight by karen finney, msnbc political analyst and former communications director of the dnc, and eugene robinson, msnbc political analyst and associate editor of the "washington post" and pulitzer prize winning columnist for that newspaper. all right. it's friday night. let's have a little fun. let's focus on the word "stupid." i'd like some names.

bobby jindal says the gop needs to stop being the stupid party. karen, who is he talking about? can you give me some names here? >> gee, do you think it could be, i don't know, richard mourdock or perhaps now blanking on his name, but you know, the one who attacked tammy duckworth, you know, an amputee who served our country as touting her service too much? there were plenty of stupid comments to go around. and just recently, we had another member of congress try to explain what the comments about legitimate rain actually might have meant. so i don't think that stupid is going anywhere too far away i from the rnc any time soon. >> eugene, they are just looking for a leader right now, aren't they? >> yeah, they are. and speaking of the leadership of the actual organization, i would point out that the -- this is a party that michael steele presides over, a huge victory, so of course they fire him and reince priebus presides over a debacle, and they rehire him.

so this is not getting past stupid as far as i'm concerned. but be that as it may, that's their business. they are looking for a leader. and i think jindal could have challenged them to do what they need to do, which is reexamine their positions and their policies. it's not -- it's not just that some republicans say stupid things. it's that they have positions that are seen as anti-women, anti-minority, anti-immigrant, anti-science, anti-everything. >> if they're looking for a new leader, and they've got to have a new leader, and they're in the age of obstructing everything in washington, wouldn't this set the table for somebody out in the heartland with republican core conservative value and ideas to step forward with a fresh message? what about that, karen? >> you know, here is the problem, ed. it's not just the message, right. it is the policies. think about so while bobby jindal was making those comments, we know that a majority of americans from our

own nbc/wall street journal poll believe that access to legal abortion, majority agree with that, that roe v. wade should be the law of the land. what is the republican agenda? to try to overturn roe v. wade and take those rights away from women. we know the majority of americans support a path to citizenship. what is the republican agenda? a fake path to citizenship. point being, it is their policies. i will say quickly that after the 2004 election when democrats got beat and we kind of went back and said what is going on here, we did some real polling, and we found that americans actually agreed with us on our values. >> sure. >> but it was how we were communicating. republicans can't say that americans don't agree with them on their positions. >> just today john boehner released a video for the march for life. let's take a look at it. >> with all that is at stake, it's becoming more and more important for us to share the truth with our young people and to encourage them to lock arms, speak out for life, and help make abortion a relic of the past. let that be one of our most

fundamental goals this year. >> didn't the republicans already lose that fight, eugene? how is anything going to be different? >> nothing is going to be different. there is an uneasy consensus in the country, but it's a fairly durable consensus that nobody loves abortion, but abortion should be legal and infrequent, as infrequent as we can make it. and that is -- that's the basic agreement. that's what people basically believe. they don't believe what republicans want, which is to outlaw all abortions in every case, according to their platform, and as a result, they're seen as hostile to the interests of women and others who care about women's reproductive rights. >> can they do a face-lift, an image change between now and 2014? >> i don't think there is enough lipstick for that, ed. i think, come on.

look, i actually -- in all seriousness, think about regard to latinos. i think they have a two-cycle problem. that is not something that they can fix right away. and again, what are they trying to do? they're also trying to change the rules in some of the states in terms of they didn't get elected so, let's change the rules. they're going to have to stop all the shenanigans and face the truth. but you know what they say. stupid is as stupid does. >> eugene, what would be their best play right now? if you guys were to the republican party, okay, this is what you have to do. step one, you are deficient in the polls in so many areas where. do they go first? >> well, where they go is -- i'd say here is the republican party platform. this is basically, the reason why you lost. and so instead of all their after-action sort of analysis of where they went wrong, instead of focusing on tactics and how they can, you know, suppress a

few more votes here and change the electoral college rules there, they should instead be focusing on where they are disconnected from the american people. you know, newt gingrich of all people said right after the election we have to study and figure out what it is it about america that we're not getting right now. and that's the question they need to ask. because that don't get it. >> they have to accept america for as it is and stop pulling the covers over their eyes and trying to take us back. i mean, that's part of the problem. they are in for a very hard awakening about what this country really is and who really make up voters of this country. >> they have their work cut out for them. a new poll shows the majority of americans have a negative opinion of the republican party. i thought there were actually more republicans than that. >> yeah. how about that? >> that positive opinion number is getting down to friends and family. so we're going to have -- it's a problem. >> karen finney, eugene robinson, great to have you with us on this friday evening.

thank you so much. a senator who ran the most despicable commercials in american history is slithering out of the senate. that's next.

and of course we love hearing from our viewers on facebook and twitter accounts. social media lit up this afternoon after news broke that sarah palin lost her job as a contributor at fox news. well, on facebook, tracie joy says thank you, jesus. you still do miracles. richard writes now she'll have plenty of time to keep an eye on those russkis from her front porch. and shara says this is the great decision making brought to us by john mccain. and he wonders why he is not president. so now that fox has dumped sarah palin, who should go next? you can go to our facebook page right now and join the conversation. and don't forget to like us, "the ed show." we would appreciate that when you're there. still to come, the department of justice has avoided prosecuting wall street

ceos after they tanked the economy. i'll ask mike papantonio why they haven't been more aggressive in the doj to go after them.

well, georgia senator saxby chambliss has had enough. earlier today the two-term republican senator announced he will not seek reelection in 2014. good old saxby, well, he is just sick of the gridlock. the debt ceiling debacle of 2011 and the recent fiscal cliff vote showed congress at its worse, and sadly, i don't see the legislative gridlock and partisan posturing improving any time soon. really. chambliss has a lot of nerve blaming gridlock and that's why he's got to leave. the senator has been a loyal foot soldier in mitch mcconnell's obstructionist army, wouldn't you say? chambliss doesn't have much to hang his hat on after ten years in the upper chamber. the gentleman from georgia is most famous for the underhanded way he got to the senate in the

first place. just a year after 9/11, saxby chambliss used images of osama bin laden and saddam hussein next to pictures of his opponent, senator max cleland. senator cleland lost three of his limbs and received the silver and bronze star during his service in vietnam. chicken hawk chambliss of course dodged vietnam using two deferments due to bad knees from a football injury. the commercial was one of the scummiest in modern history. at the time, senator john mccain condemned the commercials that were produced by chambliss. i had never seen anything like that ad. putting pictures of saddam hussein and osama bin laden next to the picture of a man who left three limbs on the battlefield, it's worse than despicable. it's reprehensible. in 2014, when saxby chambliss leaves the senate and settles into a cushy lobbyist job, this will be his legacy. in the moon time, if chambliss

is really worried about gridlock, maybe he can reach across the aisle tonight and help democrats fix the mess that he helped create. saxby, what a lousy couple of terms you've had. tonight in our survey, i asked you will the democrats stop the republicans from cheating in elections. 1% of you say yes. 19% of you not so confident, saying no. coming up, wall street's shady banking practices trashed the economy, but the justice department isn't holding anyone accountable. i want to know why. mike papantonio weighs in with me next. stay tuned. you're watching "the ed show" on msnbc.

and in the big finish tonight, this week we've told you about a profound failure of justice. in its documentary "the untouchables" the pbs show "front line slow shows that no ceos have faced charges following the economic collapse. whistle-blowers all reported fraud was going on and supervisors looking the other way. the obama justice department has investigated these banking practices and they have come up with nothing. lots of unanswered questions remain, and now the man responsible for these investigations, assistant attorney general lanny breuer has resigned. well, breuer went on record in a

speech at the new york bar association. martin smith asked breuer about that speech. >> in that speech you made a reference to losing sleep at night, worrying about what a lawsuit might result in at a large financial institution. >> right. >> is that really the job of a prosecutor, to worry about anything other than simply pursuing justice? >> well, i think i am pursuing justice. i think the entire responsibility of the department is to pursue justice. but in any given case, i think i and prosecutors around the country being responsible should speak to regulators, should speak to experts, because if i bring a case against institution a, and as a result of bringing that case, there is some huge economic effect, if it creates a ripple effect so that suddenly counterparties and other

financial institutions or other companies that had nothing to do with this are affected badly, it's a fact that we need to know and understand. >> and i am joined tonight by mike papantonio, host of "the ring of fire" radio show and former president of the national trial lawyers association. good to have you with us tonight. >> how are you? >> this documentary plays and lanny breuer resigns. i don't know what the connection is. what do you make of it? >> should have followed the dots a little bit further. the very reasons that lanny breuer resigned should be some of the reasons that eric holder should be thinking about. ed, this is a simple case to understand. what eric holder and breuer had in front of them, bank organizations that pleaded guilty to moneylaundering for drug cartels and terrorists. they paid the fine. they knew people had to make the decision. but even after they plead guilty, breuer would go after

none of the people involved. people commit crimes. there is case after case like that. >> why hasn't the department of justice been more aggressive? and is there the possibility of a deal between the obama administration and wall street? your thoughts. >> well rahm emanuel was out collecting money from wall street in the first cycle, collecting money from wall street for that first election, he was telling people that the man behind the curtain, president obama, who was running for president at the time, when he was talking tough about getting tough with bankers and actually cleaning up the culture of banking, that he wasn't really -- wasn't serious. and in the end, what ended happening, rahm emanuel collected a lot of money from wall street, but the administrative policy of not going after these bankers is what we were left with. it is impossible to believe that crime after crime that took place, trillions of dollars stolen, and we had an eric holder running this entire

program. eric holder was making the calls. it wasn't lanny breuer. and you have to ask yourself were people above eric holder making these decisions. it's very clear. ronald reagan was faced with the same thing in the s & l crisis. you know what he did? he threw 700 bankers in prison for a crime that is far less than what we have seen here because ronald reagan believed that crime should be punished. that's the only way you clean up the culture of crime. >> so is holder incompetent? >> i don't think he is incompetent. i think he simply -- listen, he comes from -- he coming from covington burling. it's a very conservative corporate defense firm. look, these are people who have represented banks. they represented morgan stanley. they represented bank of america. they represented halliburton, kbr. he comes from a culture that is used to defending corporate criminals, not prosecuting them. you know what? that all flows from the top, ed. if you have somebody in charge

who has that mentality. look, lanny breuer was also from covington burling. you really should start with people who want to prosecute criminals, not people who have made their entire career, built their entire career around defending them. >> you are convinced from what you've seen that there is more than enough evidence for them to go after one of the big guns on wall street? and they're getting off scot-free? >> completely. i was a prosecutor. any prosecutor -- my prosecutor that looked at these facts would say could we make a case? absolutely. we at least begin with wiretaps. we would have special grand juries. we do would do all the things that a prosecution effort looks like. and you know what? why is it we can go after rico, we can rico a mobster group and we wiretap them and have special grand juries and do witness interviews, but with these folks on wall street. >> yeah. >> we were unwilling to do that with billionaire wall streeters. >> well, i'll tell you who is paying for it. we're paying for it, the taxpayers. what they did to the economy put it into the tank and it was a big stimulus package that had to